CAREER EXPLORATIONCOMMUNICATIONS 110

By: Chantal Silarbi

AREA OF COMMUNICATIONDIRECTOR OF GLOBAL EDUCATION: A FUSION OF INTERPERSONAL & INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION, PAIRED WITH GROUP & TEAM AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION

Interpersonal Communication: As a Director of Global Studies, this is a very important aspect of communication for the job. Students interested in finding and learning everything they need to know about preparing for their time studying abroad will require meetings before deciding destinations and after preparations for their trips.

Emails or other forms of correspondence such as mail, phone calls, and video chats via Skype may also be utilized. In addition to contact with students, there may be concerned parents or family members looking for information regarding the trips. Aside from the student, there is also much communication between the corresponding school or program in the intended country.

AREA OF COMMUNICATION Intercultural Communication: Michael Sandy’s position as Director of Global Studies at HACC is an indirect means to intercultural communication because one of his major goals is getting students, like myself, to other countries to potentially expand their mindsets.

While visiting these other countries, students will aspire to gain a better understanding of what it is that makes this particular group of people act and live the way they do. In turn, students will foster a better understanding of how they communicate as a cultural group.

AREA OF COMMUNICATION Group & Team Communication: The Director of Global Communications at a college can obviously not stand alone. Colleges often have large influxes of students interested in specific trips looking to go abroad or international students looking for guidance from the Global Educations department.

The director also schedules meetings and/or conference calls with the school board in order to inform board members of plans for upcoming trips.

Tasks such as scheduling appointments, providing quick details for where to access information require additional help from team members.

This makes the group/team dynamic of the job extremely important to the survival of the Director. Without a secretary or higher-ups to seek advice, the job would be just as unproductive as a doctor minus his staff to schedule appointments or take note of reminders.

AREA OF COMMUNICATION Organizational Communication:Although an organization’s communication may not seem to be a major contributor of a career like a Global Studies Director, it is an essential everyday function to the position at HACC.

For example, in most professional settings, especially in any educational environment where young, impressionable students roam the halls, it is important to establish good organizational communication. All employees must understand any rules, codes, or ideologies of the institution, to help maintain the intended image of the institution.

DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL EDUCATION POSITION DESCRIPTION The position description for a Director of Global Education can often vary from institute to institute. To avoid getting too focused on deciphering which institute does it better, we will focus primarily on HACC’s Director of Global Education, Michael Sandy.

Primary Responsibilities include:Communicating with students, staff, higher-ups, and participating organizations about study abroad opportunities. Being up to date on current events, especially places students may visit.Fostering and maintaining a thorough understanding of cultural differences and forms of communication to better inform students of these differences.Holding a working knowledge of various forms of communication (email, phone, Skype) for any needed domestic or international meetings and/or sessions for updating students.

REQUIRED EDUCATION After skimming through an plethora of job wanted adds, I believe I know what a position as Director of Global Studies entails. However, after interviewing Michael Sandy, the required education of a the career title has come forefront. Take note: this title, Director of Global Studies, is almost impossible to find by itself, but you can get a general idea of is required for it if you use some common sense. So, what type of education would be required, you ask?

What a school or organization looking to higher a Director of Global Education might deem necessary may vary vastly from place to place. One thing I will add however, is it is not just your degree that is important for a career this. Nonetheless, it would be good to prepare your mind for needing at least a bachelors degree. So, let us start with some skills that may be used within the career and work outward from there.

REQUIRED SKILLS SETS AND STRENGTHSSkills• Effective communication with various groups• Computer skills• Knowledgeable of international matters•The ability to work under extreme pressure• Time management and organizational skills•Well versed in language. (bi/tri/multilingual skill are a plus, but not typically requirement.)

Strengths• The desire to help others• Good team/group dynamic• Patience• Empathy • High Emotional intelligence •An ability to be connectable

Considering you may be dealing with an array of international students a degree in international relationships could be essential, but what may be even more important is just how much experience dealing with people you have. That said, various forms of the communication majors may be honored.

Also, programs dealing with current issues, or those that put its students in different countries for a significant amount of time to learn and grow are perhaps be a plus.

REQUIRED EDUCATION CONTINUED

THE INTERVIEW & QUESTIONS Interview with Michael B.

Sandy

WHAT IS IT THAT GOT YOU STARTED DOING WHAT YOU DO?

Michael Sandy: I had an international service experience. That started me off thinking that travel would be pretty cool. And that I could do this and be part of a community project, get things done and meet people that way. From there, I started helping out developing projects. I went back to school and I was gonna go into development work over seas. [I was] disillusioned about some of the development process, the money and the politics of it. So, I really enjoyed working in higher education. So, I thought let’s work and study abroad and do service learning programing. That was 18 years ago.

Interviewer: And you said you had this international services project, where was that?

Michael Sandy: Merida, Mexico

WHAT DO YOU FIND TO BE THE MOST NEGATIVE OR CHALLENGING ASPECT OF YOUR CAREER?

Michael Sandy: Oh, there is a lot of administrative work to be done…

Interviewer: Ok

Michael Sandy: … for any program. So, you might work for months and months setting something up with a lot of phone calls, logistics, scheduling air fair, one side activities, coordinating all the details which is fun, but you do like five months for a one week program. So, you gotta be patient about the administrative work in order to have a program work well.

Interviewer: So, mainly, the being patient is the biggest…

Michael Sandy: Paying attention to detail, is probably equally important. You know, if you’re not paying attention to dates when you make reservations someone might have housing problems. Sending out bank wires and all the swift code letters and numbers. You know, you just gotta watch the details.

DO YOU HAVE A CRAZY EXPERIENCE OR STORY YOU COULD SHARE?

Interviewer: You don’t have to say names or anything like that.

Michael Sandy: Yeah, [I know], I’m trying to think. It turned out to be very positive, but we… this is back in the early years, I was at the university of… here? Does it have to be at HACC or?

Interviewer: No, just your experience.

Mr. Sandy: [Ok] I was just getting started, we were gonna do a program in Bolivia. We were going to Bolivia for the first time and four weeks before we were going, uh, they started rioting.

Interviewer: In Bolivia?

Michael Sandy: In Bolivia. Cochabamba, Bolivia where we were [going to be] and there was protests. They were burning tires and shutting down roads and everything else. And there was a concern that maybe that was gonna spread and affect the pilot union. We wouldn’t even be able to get into Bolivia. So, in three weeks flat I worked with a faculty member; he changed his curriculum a little bit. We rearranged. We went to Brazil. The Brazilian Amazon instead cause the same organization, but different (clears throat) …But we had to get everything lined up immediately. So, the immunizations are different. One’s up in the mountains, one's down in the Amazon. Umm… we had to get visas. I was, I think *pauses to think* I forgot how that worked, from Pittsburgh, I think someone drove to D.C. and got all our visas for Brazil. Um, we had to get the airline tickets changed. All the students, all the material had to be updated. Students had to agree.

Interviewer: And did all the students agree?

Michael Sandy: All the students agreed within three days.

SUMMARY

SUMMARY In summary, I have learned Directors of Global Studies, especially in the school setting, go though an array of emotions. Often, these emotions are evoked by the stress or true nature of the job. There is potential for very serious problems or concerns should communication be an issue in the intended hosting country. However, there are also extreme cases of joy. When a student comes back enlightened by how their stay in a host country helped their life in some way, this is an example of a positive element of the job.

For my own aspirations concerning the world of international communications, this interview and assignment was inspiring in that I can now see more reasons to follow through with my dreams. My dream of creating a women empowering movement and greater sense of community both locally and internationally is once again recharged. Long live the people who understand just how important good communication, in all it’s forms, can be for our families, communities, our future (the children), country and planet.

WORK CITEDSandy, Michael. Personal Interview. 4 April. 2014

Center of Global Education Staff. 2014. Center of Global Education, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Hacc. Web. 4 April 2014.